Louise McRae has a fluid art and spatial sculpture practice encompassing many areas of the material world. An alchemist of materials, she transforms one form into another unexpected form, bringing a sense of wonder, intrigue, and hope.

In her work, Louise McRae investigates our relationship to the object world.

She moves from bricolage paintings to reclaimed wood and pressed concrete sculptures and now with her new series, she has created sculptural combinations of industrial materials, brightly hued felt and warm beaten metals: brass, copper, alloy and enamel, abounding off the wall in a new perceptual space.

The exhibition's title is borrowed from a book by conservation biologist Thor Hanson, ‘Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid: The Fraught and Fascinating Biology of Climate Change’. This book is about adaptation and provides evidence that there are signs everywhere showing how animals and plants are responding to climate change. Some species are adapting, some are evolving and some are dying out. This is a story of hope and shows that plasticity is what saves us, being able to adapt to be resilient and risk all to do so. An ultimatum, change or face extinction.

McRae scrutinises the material form – playing, toying, bending and messing with it, exploring new frontiers and inspiring us to be challenged with a different way of being. The hurricane lizards and the plastic squid are adapting to a new order, McRae is challenging us, are we up to the ultimatum: can we evolve and adapt to an environment constantly in flux?

The exhibition is in a unique and unconventional gallery space. A repurposed milking shed where carpenters WRW & Co. have a showroom for their exquisite furniture which accompanies Louise's sculptures. Learn more: wrw.co.nz